Gatlinburg

Mother's Day weekend Hubby and I went to Gatlinburg to hear about a Bluegreen vacation club. We thought it was going to be a time share kind of thing but it wasn't. It's a neat idea that's points based so we can use any facility, any time, any size lodging. kind of cool. The Bluegreen resort in Gatlinburg is Mountain Loft. I can't wait to start vacationing.

We had a good time while we were in Gatlinburg. Hubby hurt his back at work the week before so we didn't move around much. It was relaxing anyway.

Note to self (and anyone else who loves pizza): There is a little ma and pa sort of Italian restaurant on Hwy 231 one mile from downtown Gatlinburg called Brick Oven. We left the Aquarium Saturday morning and had just paid for parking and realized that if we wanted to eat lunch we were going to have to pay for parking again because Hubby couldn't walk far. I got in the far right lane on the main street and couldn't get in the left to avoid being forced to turn down 231. So we drove on just to see what we could see and found this little restaurant. There was nobody there. no lines. It couldn't be too bad. We ordered a medium pizza. It was huge and loaded with fresh vegetables. It was every bit as good as the Mellow Mushroom chain. Check it out.

Statue outside the aquarium. There's a little chipmunk in this pic.
You can click on the pic to make it bigger.

This is so wrong. Seafood buffet at the aquarium.

Now this guy was upside down and sideways, spinning around and everything but never stopped wiping the glass. Never has window washing ever looked so exciting, so enticing, alluring even, a bit erotic, definitely wet. . .Oh stop, this is a family kind of blog.

Sunday morning we drove through the state park. The mountains were quite pleasant and beautiful as ever.

Beautiful Gatlinburg, TN

Mama Mia!

Fetuccini Alfredo!

Zoe!

Oh gosh, Sarah's been watching ads in the paper for puppies for quite some time even though she lives in a no pets apartment. She asked me if I would keep a puppy for her until she moved in August if she should happen to find one she wanted. Well, like the good sweet perfect mommy that I am, I said sure. I didn't realize she was hell bent on finding one the very next day. Of course she did find one the very next day. Nearly $300 for a non-registered mix breed. Gee wiz.

Meet Zoe

Isn't she cute?

Warren loves her already.

But there's not going to be any more of this napping business on my tables.

Funky Tree

Ok now, where were we. . .

Oh yes, the Funky Tree. The class was a lot of fun. Canvases , brushes, and paints all included in the cost of the class ranging from $25-40.

It was nearly a full class that night.

Pat disappeared but here's her Funky Tree.

Sarah

Me

Laura

Since then I have been practicing by copying pictures online and elsewhere. I painted a sunset from a snapshot I took in Puerto Rico last year.




An a couple others copied from the Wendy Lovoy site.

This was actually a painting on a window. I modified it slightly to put it on canvas for Sarah.

Painting class!

I've always like to play at painting. I'm not very good but it's fun and relaxing and sometimes I even come up with something cute. I painted pictures for my grandmother to hang on the walls in the nursing home. Sweet little girly pictures like bears and skunks. I loved helping my chindren with school projects especially if there was painting involved. I even painted a seascape with a lighthouse for a friend's birthday. This wasn't any ordinary lighthouse. If you looked closely at the hills above the sea wall and the lighthouse and landscaping below, you might see a well built man with a delightful, delighfully impressive, erection (that being the lighthouse). I was very proud of my creation. Wonder what ever became of it. Let me see if I can dig some samples up. . .



When my older daughter was in college she took a drawing class. She was instructed to draw. . .er. . . . um. . . I'm not sure exactly what it was called but it had to be something creative, like a fish in a martini. That's what this is. Kind of cute, eh?

This self portrait is from several years ago. I know, most people paint their faces but I'm not most. I call this piece "pumpkins".

So I was very excited when my sister invited my daughters and me to a painting class in Birmingham at the studio of Wendy Lovoy. The class is called Sips n Strokes. The sips being of wine or your choice of whatever loosens you up to have fun. We went Friday April 20th. By the way, am I the only person in the world that doesn't know what April 20th is? If you don't know, send me a comment on this blog so I don't feel so bad. Now what were we talking. . . .oh yeah, the art class. We painted "Funky Tree".

To be continued. . . .

Sarah's Birthday Party

Remember friends when I said there would never be another birthday party for Sarah in this house? It was the 12 year old's birthday from hell.

Because I had allowed Laura to have a sweet sixteen birthday party I felt like I should allow Sarah to have her friends over for her birthday too. Laura's friends hung out at the house frequently and were usually neat and polite. They were a real pleasure to have around. Sarah's friends were different. I had only brief encounters with them in passing. When they came to the house it was only to pick up Sarah or get something left behind. They tended not to linger so I couldn't really get to know them. But anyway, I digress, Sarah's friends were DIFFERENT.

Laura's friends

Sarah's friends

Laura's friends

Sarah's friends

The night of the party they were rude to me, loud, obnoxious (not all of them, just most), there were three times as many as Sarah and I had discussed inviting. At the time our house might have been a whole whopping 1200 square feet so you see how this could be a problem. But wait, they did spend a lot of time outside being loud and obnoxious. Our poor neighbors. I would have called the police if this were happening next door. I was ready to send everybody home by 7:00! But no, the girls were invited to spend the night. I don't remember when the boys left, just that it was really late and I wanted to go to bed hoping to awake the next morning to find it was but a nightmare and everything was ok. But it wasn't.

The girls snuck in and (is snuck a word? well it is now) out of the house all night. Seems that one or two had a bad crush on a little hottie a couple of doors down who was about 2 or 3 years older then these kids and really soon now should be going to jail on drug related crimes according to the Decatur Daily. Not a real winner. They should have just left him alone.

The deal was, the next morning I was to get up and go to church and while I was gone, the little ladies left behind were to tidy up a bit and disappear before I came home. Most were gone but there was one little girl that kept lying about not being able to locate her dad and nobody was home and she didn't have a key so she had to stay at the house with us. Late in the afternoon, when I am ready to tie her to the train track at the end of the street, her dad calls worried that she has not been in touch with him. She was supposed to call his cell phone when she needed him to pick her up. Little bitch. She was staying as long as possible so she could flirt with that boy.

Apparently they forgot the tidy up part. When I returned Sunday morning I found food on the furniture, shelves, and the floor in every room in the house! One of the little monsters (and it's blamed on the little girl that would not leave) placed her piece of cake, less the plate, on the floor in my daycare room, sat on the rocking horse, and smushed it into the rug! Ooooh I was irate!

I remember it as if it happened only last week. No more birthday parties for Sarah at this house! But I gave in. Eight years later I allowed Sarah, and all new but still strange friends, to throw a party. I've found that though the names have changed, Sarah's friends are still much the same. Only this time they were not rude or obnoxious, at least not to or in front of me, just intoxicated.

Sarah's 20th

Easter!

Easter was fun! Rick's brother's family, sister's family, dad, and his aunt all came to our home because we had the coolest Easter egg hunting back yard in the family. Four kids hunted over 200 eggs. Lucky chickies!

Pookie enlists help

Crank it up Papa

Hey, there's something in here!

Mmmm

Hey, where's all the candy?

Now, I wanna know who took the pic of Kayla's boobs. Laura?

Graduation!

Ricky graduated boot camp in South Carolina in Late March. Sarah, Warren, Sarah's grandfather, and several members of Ricky's family were there to celebrate with him. Mr. Dubbs couldn't get off work that week so He and I didn't get to go. We are so sorry we missed it but we are so proud of Ricky. It's off to Arizona now for 17 more weeks of training then who knows where. Sarah remains here in Decatur in her apartment until the end of July when Ricky will come home to move his family to a base somewhere. I will be so lonely when Warren moves away. That little boy owns my heart.

Gone to the birds

My husband's aunt had a pair of cockatiels that were sort of hand-me-down. She could no longer care for them so she passed them along to me. The male is a real talker. He calls out "whatchadoin" regularly and says his own name, Pretty Boy. I didn't name him. The female's name is Cutie Pie. I didn't name her either. Pretty boy whistles the familiar dog command and clicks his tongue to get attention. He also whistles bits of the Andy Griffith theme. They are nice company at times. annoyingly loud at others. I think we'll keep them a little while.

Warren really enjoys them.

Pretty Boy on the left, Cutie Pie on the right

Ice cream!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

New Year Update

In late December, my mother-in-law who was already suffering late stage liver disease and awaiting a transplant, fell and broke her hip as she walked up the steps to her doctor's office. This was follwed by much pain as she already had a couple of broken ribs and vertebra from previous falls. This trauma likely caused the liver to fail and it was downhill, very slowly, from there. Eventually Mary won a bed in UAB's ICU and we had great hope that they could help her but finally the family was called into that room where the doctors ask the family to make a life support decision. It was time and Mary had suffered way more than anyone ever should. Saturday January 6, 2007 the choice was made to remove the respirator and let Mary rest. And she did, in a room filled with her children and grandchildren fluffing her pillows and holding her hands, just as she would have wanted it to be.

The folowing Monday my new son-in-law left to join the Army. We were so busy with funeral arrangements and stuff that I didn't get to see him that weekend before he left. I didn't get to tell him how proud I was of him. I hope he knows. My husband was not crazy about the idea when Sarah first told us that Ricky was thinking about the Army and I think Ricky knew that. I had to convince Rick that Ricky and Sarah had to make their own life now even if it meant moving away, probably a long way away. I'm so glad we never had to tell Mary. This news would have broken her heart (and likely done her in if the fall had not). Sarah and her grandmother were so very close and Mary adored her greatgrandson. Thank goodness for small blessings.

Tuesday night visitation was held. All of Mary's brothers and sisters, and there were 6, from all over the country were there. The funeral home scheduled 2 hours from 6:00-8:00pm but it was well after 9:00 before the line out the door tapered off. Mary was well loved in our home, in her church, and in this community.

Wednesday the funeral was held early in the afternoon. Though Mary and I were never really close, she was a loving everpresence in our family and I knew better than to where mascara today. At the graveside service doves were released. I haven't ever seen that before, not that I go to a lot of funerals. This was neat. One dove lingered and had to be shewed in order to get it to fly off. Richard, my father-in-law remarked, "That was Mary! She always wanted to stay just a little longer to visit." That indeed was Mary.

Bye Mary. I'll miss you.

Wedding Photos, FINALLY

We still haven't received the professional photos of Sarah and Ricky's wedding so I'm going to go ahead and post the ones my friends and I took. Sarah was lovely and Ricky was dashing of course. Sarahs lifelong friend, Jennifer, was her maid of honor. Laura and another af Sarah's friends, Brittany, were bridesmaids.

My sister Pat on the left and daughter Laura.

Laura created this cake. Pretty good for a first attempt at baking.

Sarah and her dear friend, Jennifer

She's so lovely. Her daddy's kind of handsome too.

These two will be next.

Maid of honor and other bridesmaid with boyfriends

My beautiful parents

That handsome man and me

Off to Gatlinburg!

There will be more pictures soon.